There are no guarantees that you can control an adrenaline dump, sometimes it will simply get the best of you. However, if you learn to control your breathing and match your breathing to your motion you will have the best chance to control the adrenaline dump. By this I mean the intensity of your breathing should automatically match the intensity of your work. If you are working hard your breathing should automatically be intense from the first second the work becomes hard. Often our breathing lags behind and we end up in an oxygen difficeny state which makes everything more difficult. Example: You start to run but don't change your breathing until your oxygen level has dropped dramatically in the blood. Now you start to breathe harder and deeper but your cells are already starved and behind the power curve. Therefore learning to match your breathing with your motion is a big help, that way you automatically adjust your breathing to match the work at the beginning.

The best way to practices this is to do it 24/7 in everything you do. When you get up from a chair make sure your breathing, don't hold your breath. When you are walking match your inhales and exhales with your step. One step, inhale, one step exhale, etc. Or two steps inhale, two steps exhale. Vary it and learn. Learn to coordinate your breathing with every motion you make.

Also remember when doing heavy work or during an intense situation inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Keep the body as relaxed as possible. It can help to visualize breathing through the body, i.e. inhale from the feet to the head, exhale from the head to the feet. This helps to keep the body relaxed.

I agree with Mark for the most part. When I had trouble with this, my sensei told me "just keep your breathing ahead of your activity" and that worked fine. It makes it work during "endurance" drills and in tournament fights as well.

Breathing is a 24/7 operation, and it will control the adrenaline rush if you learn to bring it up to the level of the activity you're engaging in. Your body will "learn" that you don't need the adrenaline to do your activity if you have your breathing right ahead of schedule. I don't think you can train to overcome the emotional side of it, if that's what's causing it, but you can try to sink those feelings into your subconscious and visualize how you're going to fight, rather than getting hyped up to go into the ring.

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What man is a man that does not make the world a better place?... from "Kingdom of Heaven"

If I might make a book suggestion that is somewhat related. 'Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why' by Laurence Gonzales. This is an excellent book about people that live or die in extreme situations. Early in the book he goes into a good deal of medical detail concerning adrenaline and other chemicals in the body. One of the biggest affects for survival is the ability for a person to see the world the way it really is, not they way they wish it to be. This means the individual must be totally honest and totally accepting of the situation, which is not easy. Gonzales gives a number of fascinating case studies to illustrate this point. If you a chance pick up a copy.

Learning to control our emotions is a lifetime of work. It's easy to say and have definitions about how to do it, it's a little more difficult to actually put into practice... otherwise, they wouldn't be emotions.

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What man is a man that does not make the world a better place?... from "Kingdom of Heaven"

There is an interesting article that just came out on the RMA March Newsletter that relates to the topic at hand. I thought you guys might find it interesting. Rather than reprint the article you can check it out at the following address:

Unfortunately no matter how good any of us might be this is not something which can be taught exclusively via the written word. Even so, I'll do what I can...

There are some specific breathing exercises which are designed to trigger an adrenal response. There are many other methods to achieve this type of thing but the exercises are depthful. Typically called Sanchin kata though others can be used in the same manner and provide identical results.

The idea is NOT to control the rush but instead NOT to let it control you. The reason we practice is so that we can simulate these feelings, sensations... and learn how to cope so that you don't shut down overwhelmed by them, OR go insane giving into them. Your heart is pounding, hands shaking, great... now use those sensations and do not lose control because of them.

If you are breathing normally, you are not angry. When you are angry your breathing changes... When you are in pain, sobbing, sad, your breathing has changed. Learning techniques of breathing allows us tools to harness the adrenal system so we can turn it on much like a light switch at will....

Learning to use that adrenaline or set it aside is the excellent challenge. Learn it well and you have an excellent tool to explore and use...

hey, ive been looking everywhere for a topic like this. im in the 11th grade and i can control my adrenaline without using breathing techniques or specific thoughts. its like a switch inside my body that allows me to turn my adrenaline rushes on or off whenever i want to. i have no idea how to explain how i do it and i was wondering if anyone had any ideas of what it is. ive been trying to understand it for years. please help.

It depends on how you want to control the adrenaline. Everyone speaks of slowing or stopping it. I say you should strive to harness its power, and control it. Before I spar, I think about situations I have been in before that got my adrenaline pumping. Many times this will bring on a adrenal dump. By doing so, after time I have become accustomed to it and it does not affect me negatively.

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"When I let Go of who I am, I become who I might be." Lao Tzu

Sure, if you enjoy the temporary heightened arousal, increased pulse rate and blood flow, increased physical performance, followed by the endorphin high.... BUT....

Adrenaline (aka Epinephrine) also has the following adverse effects...

Quote:

Epinephrine plays a central role in the short-term stress reaction—the physiological response to threatening, exciting or environmental stressor conditions such as high noise levels or bright light (see Fight-or-flight response), It also reacts to stress induced anger. It is secreted by the adrenal medulla. When released into the bloodstream, epinephrine binds to multiple receptors and has numerous effects throughout the body.

It increases heart rate and stroke volume, dilates the pupils, and constricts arterioles in the skin and gut while dilating arterioles in leg muscles. It elevates the blood sugar level by increasing hydrolysis of glycogen to glucose in the liver, and at the same time begins the breakdown of lipids in adipocytes. Epinephrine has a suppressive effect on the immune system.

Epinephrine is used as a drug to promote peripheral vascular resistance via alpha-stimulated vasoconstriction in cardiac arrest and other cardiac dysrhythmias resulting in diminished or absent cardiac output, such that blood is shunted to the body's core. This beneficial action comes with a significant negative consequence—increased cardiac irritability—which may lead to additional complications immediately following an otherwise successful resuscitation....

One of the side effects of this hormone and neurotransmitter is the "shakes". Your body is literally fighting itself to deal with the effects of the neurotransmitter. Why? Isn't dealing with someone trying to take your head off enough to deal with?

Well, slowing down the release of epinephrine (the correct name) IS "controlling" it. I don't think you can entirely prevent it. But you can certainly regulate it, so it doesn't flood your system at a time when your body doesn't need to deal with the added stress.

Not allowing yourself to get stressed is a good start... that's why they say to breathe in and count to 10 before you "chuck a wobbly".

Why would you wnant to stop your Adreniline thats my favorite thing in a fight. Trust me without your Adreniline everytime you got punched it would probaly hurt twice as much. Just learn to maximize your Adreniline, but control your movement.

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A Coward Dies 1000 Times A Souldja Dies But Once

It has been brought up in this topic, but I don't think the importance of keeping a 'cool head' has been emphasized enough. Maintaining a level of grounded emotions and not letting yourself 'rage' IMO is one of the reasons we train in MA's. Learning to exercise control even in a situation in which you receive an adrenal dump and you know you are going to fight will most likely put you in a more advantageous position than simply going into an uncontrolled rage. You are more prone to make bad decisions if you are not in control of your emotions.

It is absolutely neccesary to train while dealing with a adrenaline dump. For example; often when sparring with my teachers I will feel the adrenaline dump hit me. I have learned over time that if I let it get the better of me then I will get thrashed even worse than if I had kept my cool. Reason being, their skill outweighs mine considerably. I have to remain clever and skillful if I am going to at least defend myself and for that I need to have mental clarity. Granted, it is a lot easier to let that can of whoopass blow wide open, but then it is all gone. It is better to open that can just a little and pour it where you want it to go.

Hello everyone, i need advice about controlling the adrenaline rush. I get frustrated very very easily and from very small things(which gets me in a lot of conflict situations) and my adrinaline rush is really bad. It happens mainly in street conflicts or fights, my heart starts pumping very fast, all of my muscles get stiffed and my vision gets blurred most of the times i just cant do anithing. I am thinking of seeking proffesional help but first i wanted to know if some of u can help me.

Maybe you could start by not putting yourself in a situation where you are going to be getting into conflict all the time?If you find yourself getting freaked out by something minimal, acknowledge it and keep yourself in check.

I know that not putting myself in that kind of situations is the best thing to do, but that is another problem. So any suggestions on the adrenaline rush or does some of u experienced something like this.I know i have to calm myself down but i cant controll it.

Sounds like that might be a wise choice.I think that people tend to let things get out of control for to long and eventually things do get beyond control and they have to seek help.Like I said in my previous post, if you see a situation arise where you think your adrenaline is going to get cranked up, avoid it all together.

i understand lubo, same thing happens to me. i got like this beat up dog syndrom used to fight alot when i was young and lost alot of them. made me stronger in a way and have since been studying MMA. this i think has a little to do with it losing fights is a hard thing to cope with for me and for alot of ppl. but a few of the small things that get my adrenaline going that doesnt make sence is my phone..sounds retarded but whatever your not perfect either, when the phone rings my heart jumps in my chest its really intense and its for no reason. and who could it be comes into my head, see i was in the army and had some of the WORST NCO's a soldier could have and they didnt do a damn thing except make me do their job and mine and so when ever i found peace even for a min the cell phone would ring and i knew it would be one of them and about 99% of the time it was and now that im out of the army i still suffer from it. phone rings and i think of them lol like a modern day cinderella or sumtin it really was that bad. far as coping with the rush ...i know its good and all but my leg will start to shake and its horrible BUT if u want to know the best way to harness this. its to be in shape able to run 2 miles confident in your ability to have endurance and know that you do have skills in combat and that will no longer bust your heart but instead put you on charge and i'm telling you its like day and night...so confidence (knowledge of how to defend yourself) and your endurance (knowing that after 30sec of fighting you wont be gased and a simple half-assed guilitine choke wont take u outta the game). excersise hard build these things and practice mma or atleast spar with a friend get used to punchs coming at you and this will control the rush more than any breathing will cause honestly if another man is across from me talking and acting dangerous to my health i dont stand there and do a breathing excersise. remember nothing about self-control is easy or happens over night it needs to be built with time and hard work

Back to the original quesion of using breathing:Firstly breathe as much as possible through the nose. This helps prevent hyperventilation. It takes a bit of practice but eventually you can maintain the same level of exertion with nose breathing as you previously could through the mouth.Second, try to breathe down into the abdomen, this opens up the stomach area and helps maintain a relaxed but alert state. It also slows down the breathing rate and enables a greater exchange of oxygen/CO2 with each breath which helps maintain strength so you don't run out of oxygen in the middle of a technique. Opening the abdomen also connects the upper and lower body so helps prevent shaking knees and the 'frozen to the spot' scenario.

There are many other points and benefits but this is a quick post not an article. All this is taught in most qigong or taiji classes but I find is often overlooked in many martial arts.

you dumb people adrenaline is energy that you borrow from your self so if you get adrenaline you lose energy after or you get tired after or while in a fight so if some one uses adrenaline or 5 min 50 times a day they will die at a quite a young age so if you use adrenaline use it and then go to sleep or get some rest. i can control my adrenaline so i know this i have been able to use this since i was 6 years old

Quote:you dumb people adrenaline is energy that you borrow from your self so if you get adrenaline you lose energy after or you get tired after or while in a fight so if some one uses adrenaline or 5 min 50 times a day they will die at a quite a young age so if you use adrenaline use it and then go to sleep or get some rest. i can control my adrenaline so i know this i have been able to use this since i was 6 years old

maxx i am the same i dont know how i do it but i do it haha. i am 15 years old n a skateboarder so i have unconciously taught myself how to trigger my adrenaline like turn it on and off i noticed when im thinking of trying something like a dangerous trick or thinking of my anger i feel a chill down my spine and my body feels colder. then after that i have a numb sence of pain and my emotions are aside. this is sweet for fighting and skateboarding but the best thing to do is dont keep your mind just on the fight but also on breathing because if you cant control breathing you cant control who wins the fight.

It's amazing how many teenagers have the ability to "turn on and off their adrenaline"-must be the hormones. Why do I want to control the adrenaline? Well here are a couple of reasons:1. The heart rate is an indictor of stress level as the heart rate increases from stress chemicals certain physical, mental and perceptual changes can occur.Beats per Minute115-Reduction in the ability to perform fine motor skills145-Reduction of the ability to perform complex motor skills-like joint locks and take downs170-Tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, things going into slow motion start to occur-gross motor skills get strongerabove 170 you get a shift from the forebrain where all your logic and learning is stored to the mid-brain what some refer to as the survival brain, mammallian brain, reptilian brain etc. Your ability to cognitively process falls through the floor. You can have a complete mental melt down-fight, flight or freeze. By controlling the breathing as already suggested-inhale through the nose using the abdomen for a slow 4 count-hold for 4-exhale through the mouth for 4-hold for 4-repeat 4 times This reduces the heart beat and attempts to keep you perceptually unimpaired, cognitivley processing the situation, at your peak heart rate range 140bpm for physical performance. The technique is taught to the military, police, etc. and in numerous studies has shown to be benefitial.

PS if you truly have the ability to control your adrenaline here's a test- When I say GO make your heart rate exceed 200 beats per minute by releasing your adrenaline, make sure you go to the bathroom first or you may void your bladder and bowels.Immediatley relax afterwards-but get ready for the nausea and/or vomiting, symptoms of shock (dizziness, pale, clammy skin) and/or profound exhaustion. Ready>>>>>>>>GO...guess you really don't "control" your adrenaline, huh.

yeah, i dunno but i live for adrenaline rush although ive never experienced what i have read up on as i always believed it helped me but with the way i imagine how i fight it will

controlling emotions are very difficult 2 control i use 2 be heartless xcept for anger but once wen puberty hit i culdnt control em

id say either embrace it and go well suicidal fighting style or take deep breaths and try 2 calm urself and ya heart down and prepare yourself (i wuldnt suggest embracing it unless ud go compeltely berserk in a fight and i mean literally and itll hurt like hell